JPH10267495A - Cooling refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the running cost by comparing a full operation set temperature with a temperature detected by an inside temperature sensor, operating first and second fans when the detected temperature is higher than the full operation set temperature otherwise operating only one of them. SOLUTION: A partitioner 8 is stood in the thermally insulated box 1 of a refrigerator and openings are made at the upper and lower parts thereof. The upper opening serves as a chill delivery port 13 while the lower opening serves as a suction port 14 and an upper fan 16 for cooler is disposed at the chill delivery port 13 while a lower fan 16 for cooler is disposed at the suction port 14. The fans 16, 17, and the like, are controlled by a controller receiving signals from an inside temperature sensor 28, a temperature sensor 26 for detecting end of defrost, and the like. The detection temperature of the inside temperature sensor 28 is compared with a full operation set temperature and when the detection temperature is higher, the fans 16, 17 are operated otherwise one of them is operated and the other is stopped.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cooling storage such as a freezer or a refrigerator in which air cooled by a cooler is forcibly circulated by a blower for the cooler.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional cooling storage, a single blower for a cooler rotates at a constant speed to suck air in a storage room into a cooler side, cool the sucked air by the cooler, and then cool the air from the cooler side. Air is being discharged into the storage room. Further, at the time of defrosting, the blower for the cooler is stopped.

[0003]

Incidentally, there are cases where the temperature inside the cooling storage is higher than the reference temperature for temperature control, and cases where the temperature inside the refrigerator is low and substantially equal to the reference temperature for temperature control. The air volume of the cooler blower is set large enough with a margin so that it can cope with the case where the temperature in the refrigerator is higher than the reference temperature for temperature management. Therefore, when the temperature in the refrigerator is low and substantially equal to the reference temperature for temperature management, the air volume of the blower for the cooler becomes excessive, and excess air flows. As a result, running costs are increasing. Further, in order to adjust the air volume of the cooler blower, it is conceivable to make the number of revolutions of the cooler blower variable. However, the variable cooler blower is expensive and has a high running cost at low speed rotation.

During defrosting, the cooler is heated by a heater or the like, and the temperature of the air around the cooler rises. Then, the warmed air rises and may flow into the storage room through an opening or the like. Then, warm air accumulates in the upper part of the storage room, and the temperature of the stored material stored in the upper part of the storage room rises, which adversely affects the stored material.
Further, the air warmed by the heater rises and moves away from the cooler, so that the frost attached to the cooler cannot be thawed efficiently, and the defrosting time becomes longer. As a result, running costs such as electricity costs for the heater increase. In addition, the warmed air that has flowed into the storage room needs to be cooled again, which increases the cooling cost.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a cooling storage having a low running cost.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cooling storage unit comprising: a heat insulating box main body; a storage chamber formed inside the heat insulating box main body; A first opening (14), a second opening (13) at the other end, and a cool air flow path (7) communicating with the storage chamber at the first opening and the second opening; And a first opening-side blower that is disposed on the first opening side of the cool air flow path and sucks air in the storage chamber into the cool air flow path via the first opening ( 17) and a second opening-side blower (1) which is disposed on the second opening side of the cool air flow path and discharges the air of the cool air flow path to the storage chamber via the second opening.
6) and an internal temperature sensor (28) for detecting the internal temperature
And the control device (4
1). Then, the control device compares the full operation set temperature with the temperature detected by the internal temperature sensor,
When the detected temperature is equal to or higher than the full operation set temperature, both the first opening side fan and the second opening side blower are operated, and when the detected temperature is lower than the full operation set temperature, the first opening side fan and the second opening side blower are operated. One is running and the other is stopped.

A cooling storage according to a second aspect of the present invention includes a heat-insulating box body, a storage chamber formed inside the heat-insulating box body, a first opening at one end, and a first opening at the other end. Two openings are formed, a cool air passage communicating with the storage chamber through the first opening and the second opening, a cooler disposed in the cool air passage, and a first opening side of the cool air passage. , A first opening-side blower disposed on the second opening side of the cool air flow path, and a control device.
When the controller is defrosted, the direction of rotation of the first opening-side blower is such that the air in the storage chamber is sucked into the cool air flow path via the first opening, and the direction of rotation of the second opening-side blower is , So that the air in the storage room is sucked into the cool air channel via the second opening. On the other hand, except at the time of defrosting, the rotation direction of the first opening side blower is such that the air in the storage chamber is sucked into the cool air flow path through the first opening,
The rotation direction of the second opening-side blower causes the air in
It is controlled so that the liquid is discharged into the storage room via the opening.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment of a cooling storage according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a cooling storage according to an embodiment of the present invention, and is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line CC of FIG. FIG. 4 is a control circuit diagram. FIG. 5 is a BB cross-sectional view of the cooling storage at the time of defrosting.

Insulated box body 1 of refrigerator as cooling storage
Are an outer box 2 and an inner box 3 made of a metal plate such as a stainless plate.
This is formed by injecting and foaming a heat insulating material 4 such as urethane in a space between the outer box 2 and the inner box 3. Inside the heat insulation box main body 1, that is, inside the storage, a partition plate 8 that divides the storage room 6 and the cool air flow path 7 is erected, and the front part of the storage becomes the storage room 6, and the storage room 6 is located behind the storage room 6. A cool air passage 7 is formed.

Air guide plates 11 are provided on both the left and right sides of the cool air flow path 7, respectively. The cool air flow path 7 has a wide left-right width at a lower portion and a narrow left-right width at an upper portion. Also, the partition plate 8
At the top and bottom of each, a substantially circular opening is formed,
The upper opening as the second opening becomes the cold air discharge port 13,
On the other hand, the lower opening as the first opening is the suction port 14. The cool air discharge port 13 is provided with an upper blower 16 for a cooler as a second opening side blower, while the suction port 14 is provided with a lower blower 17 for a cooler as a first opening side blower. The blowers 16 and 17 for the coolers are axial fan type blowers, and the air volume of the upper blower 16 for the cooler is substantially the same as the air volume of the lower blower 17 for the cooler. In addition, the upper fan 16 for a cooler, which is a cool air outlet side blower,
The air in the cool air passage 7 is discharged to the storage room 6 via the cool air discharge port 13. On the other hand, the lower blower 17 for the cooler, which is the blower on the suction port side, sucks the air in the storage chamber 6 into the cool air flow path 7 via the suction port 14 at the time of normal rotation. A cooler 21 is provided between both the cooler upper blower 16 and the cooler lower blower 17, which are cooler blowers.

Below the cooler 21, a defrost heater 22 for defrosting is provided. On the lower side of the cooler 21, a drain pan 2 for receiving defrost water generated during defrosting is provided.
3 is provided, and the defrost water received by the drain pan 23 is
It is drained outside the heat insulation box main body 1. And the cooler 21
A temperature sensor 26 for detecting the end of the defrosting that detects the temperature in the cold air flow path 7 and detects the end of the defrosting is provided above, that is, on the downstream side. Also, in the upper part of the storage room 6,
An internal temperature sensor 28 for detecting the temperature of the storage room 6 is arranged.

On the front surface of the heat insulating box body 1, that is, on the front surface of the storage room 6, an opening 3 for storing and taking out stored items is provided.
1 is formed, and this opening 31 is inserted into the heat insulating door 3 as a front door.
2 is openably closed.

On the upper side of the heat insulating box main body 1, a condenser 3 is provided.
4. A condenser blower 35 and a compressor 36 are provided. The condenser 34, the compressor 36, and the cooler 21 constitute a refrigeration cycle. An electrical box (not shown) that stores the control device 41 is provided above the heat insulating box main body 1.

A control device 41 comprising a microcomputer or the like
Controls the blowers 16 and 17 for the cooler, and inputs and outputs signals to and from the timer 42. The control device 4
The internal temperature sensor 28 and the temperature sensor 26 for detecting the completion of defrosting are connected to the input side 1. On the other hand, on the output side of the control device 41, the defrost heater 22, the reversing device 4
3 and the ON-OFF device 44 are connected. When the upper fan 16 for the cooler is connected to the reversing device 43 and a reversing signal is output from the control device 41 to the reversing device 43,
The reversing device 43 reverses the rotation direction of the upper fan 16 for the cooler by changing the direction of the current supplied to the upper fan 16 for the cooler. The lower blower 17 for the cooler is connected to the ON-OFF device 44, and the ON / OFF device 44 is turned ON by the control device 41.
When the ON signal or the OFF signal is output to the -OFF device 44, the ON-OFF device 44 operates the lower blower 1 for the cooler.
The power supply to 7 is started or cut off. In the control device 41, a full operation set temperature (eg, about 5 ° C.), a defrost end temperature (eg, about 10 ° C.), a defrost start time (eg, about every 6 hours), and the like are set. The upper fan 16 for the cooler is constantly rotating.

When the compressor 36 of the refrigeration cycle of the cooling storage constructed as described above operates, the refrigerant flows into the cooler 21 and the temperature of the cooler 21 decreases. The inside temperature sensor 28 detects the inside temperature, and the detected temperature is input to the control device 41. The controller 41 compares the detected temperature with a preset full operation set temperature, and when the detected temperature is equal to or higher than the full operation set temperature,
An ON signal, that is, an operation signal is output to the ON-OFF device 44, and the lower blower 17 for the cooler is energized and rotated. The upper fan 16 for the cooler and the lower fan 1 for the cooler
7 are operating, and are blowing air in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. That is, the cool air cooled by the cooler 21 is discharged into the storage room 6 by the cooler upper blower 16,
The storage room 6 is being cooled. On the other hand, the air in the storage room 6 is
The air is sucked into the cool air flow path 7 by the cooler lower blower 17 and is blown to the cooler 21 again. In this manner, the air is forcibly circulated by both the blowers 16 and 17 for the cooler, and the storage room 6 is cooled.

On the other hand, if the detected temperature is lower than the full operation set temperature, the control device 41 turns off the ON-OFF device 44.
A signal, that is, a stop signal, is output, and the lower fan 17 for the cooler is output.
To stop the rotation. Then, only the upper blower 16 for the cooler operates to blow air in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. That is, the cool air cooled by the cooler 21 is discharged into the storage room 6 by the cooler upper blower 16, and the air in the storage room 6 is sucked into the cool air flow path 7 by the cooler upper blower 16, and again. The air is sent to the cooler 21. In this manner, the air flow rate is reduced to approximately half of the full operation.

When the defrosting start time has elapsed since the start of the operation of the refrigeration cycle, the control device 41 determines that the defrosting start time has elapsed, that is, that the defrosting start time is the timer 4.
Judging from the signal from 2, the defrosting operation is started. At the start of this defrosting operation, the control device 41 outputs an inversion signal to the inversion device 43 and an operation signal to the defrost heater 22. When an inversion signal is output to the inversion device 43,
The upper fan 16 for the cooler, which has been rotating forward until then, reverses and starts reverse rotation. As shown in FIG. 5, both the upper fan 16 for the cooler and the lower fan 17 for the cooler rotate in the direction in which the air in the storage chamber 6 is sucked into the cool air flow path 7 side, and the air in the cool air flow path 7 It is sealed so as not to flow out to the storage room 6 side. When an operation signal is output to the defrost heater 22, the defrost heater 22 is energized and the defrost heater 22 operates. Then, the temperature of the defrost heater 22 rises, and the frost adhering to the cooler 21 is thawed. The thawed frost becomes defrost water, falls into the drain pan 23, and is drained out of the heat insulation box main body 1.

Thereafter, when the defrosting of the cooler 21 is completed, the temperature of the air near the cooler 21 increases. And
The temperature sensor 26 for detecting the completion of the defrosting detects the temperature of the air above the cooler 21, and outputs the detected temperature to the control device 41. The controller 41 compares the detected temperature with a preset defrosting end temperature, and outputs an end signal to the defrost heater 22 when the detected temperature reaches the defrosting end temperature. Is turned off. Also,
The control device 41 outputs an inversion signal to the inversion device 43, and inverts the upper fan 16 for the cooler, which has been inverted, to perform normal rotation. Then, as shown in FIG. 1, the cooling of the storage room 6 is started.

As described above, in the embodiment, when the temperature of the storage room 6 is relatively high, that is, when the temperature is equal to or higher than the full operation set temperature, both the blowers 16 and 17 for the coolers are operated, and the storage room 6 is strongly operated. Upon cooling, the temperature of the storage room 6 can be rapidly reduced. On the other hand, when the opening and closing of the heat insulating door 32 is small and the temperature of the storage room 6 is relatively low, that is, is lower than the full operation set temperature, for example, at night, only one of the blowers 16 and 17 for the cooler operates. In addition, the flow rate of air is reduced by almost half, and excess air is prevented from flowing. Therefore, power consumption is reduced, and running costs can be reduced.

At the start of defrosting, the upper blower 16 for the cooler, which is a cool air outlet side blower, reverses from normal rotation to reverse rotation, and rotates in a direction to contain the air in the cool air flow path 7. Only in the passage 7 is the air fluidized. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the air warmed by the defrost heater 22 from rising and flowing out of the cool air discharge port 13 into the storage room 6. Further, the air in the cool air flow path 7 is stirred, and the temperature of the cooler 21 becomes uniform. As a result, the temperature inside the storage room 6 can be prevented from rising, and the defrost of the cooler 21 can be efficiently performed.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described above in detail.
The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment,
Within the gist of the present invention described in the claims,
Various changes can be made. Modification examples of the present invention are exemplified below. (1) In the embodiment, the cool air discharge port 13 is disposed above and the suction port 14 is disposed below, but the arrangement of the cool air discharge port 13 and the suction port 14 can be changed as appropriate. Furthermore, a plurality of cool air discharge ports 13 and suction ports 14 are provided,
A plurality of (for example, two) cool air discharge ports 13 may be arranged in parallel, and a plurality of suction ports 14 may be arranged below in a row.

(2) In the embodiment, the defrosting is performed by the defrosting heater 22, but the defrosting means can be appropriately selected. For example, it can be performed by flowing hot gas through the cooler 21. (3) In the embodiment, the defrosting start is performed by the timer 42.
The defrosting end is performed by the signal of the temperature sensor 26 for detecting the end of the defrosting. However, if the defrosting operation can be performed, the start means and the end means can be appropriately selected.

(4) If a blower on the suction port side is arranged on the suction port side of the cool air flow path 7 and a blower on the cool air discharge port side is arranged on the cool air discharge port side, the arrangement and structure of the cool air flow path 7 are determined. Can be changed as appropriate. (5) In the embodiment, when the temperature in the refrigerator is lower than the full operation set temperature, only the upper fan 16 for the cooler, which is the cool air outlet side blower, is controlled to rotate. It is also possible to control so that only a certain cooler lower blower 17 is rotated.

(6) The inside temperature sensor 28 is arranged in the storage room 6, but if the temperature of the storage room 6, that is, the inside temperature can be detected, the arrangement can be changed as appropriate. For example, the cooler 21 in the cold air flow path 7
It is also possible to arrange it in the upstream part.

[0025]

According to the invention described in claim 1 of the present application,
When the internal temperature is equal to or higher than the full operation set temperature, both the first opening side blower and the second opening side blower operate,
When the detected temperature is lower than the full operation set temperature, only one of the first opening-side blower and the second opening-side blower is operating. Therefore, when the temperature in the refrigerator is relatively high, the temperature in the refrigerator can be rapidly reduced by both the blowers for the coolers. On the other hand, when the temperature in the refrigerator is relatively low, only one blower for the cooler is operating, so that running costs such as electricity consumption can be reduced. Moreover, with such a configuration, the amount of air can be easily changed without using an expensive blower capable of controlling the number of rotations.

According to the invention described in claim 2 of the present application, at the time of defrosting, the rotation direction of the first opening side blower and the rotation direction of the second opening side blower suck the air in the storage chamber into the cool air flow path. Since the air is controlled in the direction, the air in the cool air flow path is sealed in the cool air flow path and is less likely to flow out into the storage chamber. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a rise in the temperature in the storage room at the time of defrosting, and it is possible to efficiently defrost the cooler. As a result, the amount of electricity required for cooling the storage room after defrosting can be reduced. Also, the amount of electricity required for defrosting the cooler can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a cooling storage according to an embodiment of the present invention, and is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line CC of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a control circuit diagram.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line BB of the cooling storage at the time of defrosting.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Thermal insulation box main body 6 Storage room 7 Cold air flow path 13 Cold air discharge port (2nd opening) 14 Suction port (1st opening) 16 Upper blower for a cooler (2nd opening side blower) 17 Lower blower for a cooler (1st opening side) Blower) 21 Cooler 28 Internal temperature sensor 41 Controller

Claims (2)

[Claims] An insulating box body; a storage chamber formed inside the insulating box body; a first opening at one end and a second opening at the other end; A cool air passage communicating with the storage chamber at a first position; a cooler disposed in the cool air flow passage; a first air passage disposed at the first opening side of the cool air flow passage; A first opening side blower that sucks into the cool air flow path through the opening, and a second opening side that is disposed on the second opening side of the cool air flow path and discharges the air in the cool air flow path to the storage chamber through the second opening A blower, an internal temperature sensor that detects the internal temperature, and a full operation set temperature are set. The full operation set temperature and the detected temperature of the internal temperature sensor are compared, and the detected temperature is set to the full operation set temperature. In the above case, both the first opening side blower and the second opening side blower are operated. Is allowed, when the detected temperature is lower than the full operating the set temperature, it operates the one of the first opening blower and the second opening blower, cooling storage and a controller for stopping the other. 2. A heat-insulating box main body, a storage room formed inside the heat-insulating box main body, a first opening at one end and a second opening at the other end, and the first opening and the second opening. A cool air passage communicating with the storage chamber at a first position; a cooler disposed in the cool air flow passage; a first opening-side blower disposed at a first opening side of the cool air flow passage; A second opening-side blower disposed on the second opening side of the road, and at the time of defrosting, the rotation direction of the first opening-side blower is such that air in the storage chamber is sucked into the cool air flow path through the first opening, In addition, the rotation direction of the second opening-side blower is set to the direction in which the air in the storage chamber is sucked into the cool air flow path via the second opening. In the direction in which the air in the storage chamber is sucked into the cool air flow path via the first opening, and A control device for controlling a turning direction to be a direction in which air in the cold air flow path is discharged to the storage chamber through the second opening.